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First up, is the Dolphs.
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Dolphs
Physical Description: An eldritch artifact created the dolphs from humans who dived into it. The result is an uncanny melding of humanity with atlantic bottlenosed dolphins. Dolphs, or “dolphmen” and “dolphmaids” are mostly humanoid. They do not have tails, but they have fins on their shins and forearms. Their head and skin resembles a bottlenosed dolphin with a blowhole on top of their head. They also have a dolphin’s dorsal fin. Males have a decidedly male physique and hide their genitalia within their bodies. Female dolphs have two breasts and child bearing hips. All dolphs have five toes on their feet and four fingers and an opposable thumb on their hands. All dolphs tend to have swimmer builds.
Society: The majority of dolphs has migrated to the infra-tidal zone and has built villages there. For the past five thousand years, they live as barbarian tribes and do live around estuaries where they trade with surface folk for goods and services. Being a seawater species, dolphs can stand brackish water for a time but they must return to the sea from time to time. The settled dolphs have a patriarchal pattern of rulership and genealogy.
The minority of dolphs forms nomadic lifestyles as they swim from region to region. The nomads form pods, and often the pods are segregated into fraternities and sororities. The nomadic pods follow a matriarchal pattern of rulership and geneaology, with most of the able bodied males operating as an army.
Dolphs seem to have inherited the dolphins’ joy of sex along with the humans’ joy of sex. While the settled dolphs along the infra-tidal zone seem to put more taboos on sex to more resemble humans and to be accepted into human society, the nomadic dolphs have little taboos when it comes to sex. In both settled and nomadic cultures, sex is celebrated as part of their religion and part of their lives.
In settled cultures of the dolphs, familial relations are more human with the dolphs forming permanent couples and rearing families where the father takes an active role. They also partake in marriage covenants with each other and have elaborate marriage ceremonies.
In nomadic cultures, the sexual bond is much more fleeting. Nomadic dolphs, because of their environment, gave up any semblance of permanent mateship. As a result, the nomads have taken up polyamorous mating rituals. While homosexuality is frowned upon by the settled dolphs, the nomadic dolphs celebrate any sex and homosexual parings are much more accepted, but expected to stop when one of the pair finds a mate of the other sex. Among nomadic dolphs, the males compete for their females by making themselves pretty and dolling themselves up to attract a mate. Competition between males can be fierce for female mates, although it’s the female nomad’s right to choose. Children are born in the open sea and raised by the females. The father has little to do with childrearing except to be expected to hunt for and bring home food.
Relations with Other Races: Dolphs have a strong kinship with humans and with sea elves. Infact, dolphs seem to have the dolphin fascination with humans and other sapient creatures (except the sea orcs and sahuagin, see below). Dolphs with their joy of sex, often try to get the humans and sea elves they are friends with to have sex with them. Most humans and sea elves are reluctant to do this. The few that do, only mating with Sea Elves have produced a sea elf/dolph hybrid (see Half-Elves, below).
Dolphs do not get along well with Sahuagin, although they do get along well with the makos and sea folk. They also hate merrows and scrags, and often compete with merrows and scrags for space to settle. Dolphs usually fiercely compete with sea orcs, also for resources. The competition is often fierce enough to start undersea wars. Dolphs get along well with the sea folk but are unable to mate with them.
Dolphs have cordial relations with mogogols, pisceans, and the sebek-kas. They also feel kinships with selkies mostly because they can become human. As a result, they often try to get the selkies they befriended into having sex with them, and the selkies are even more reluctant than humans or sea elves about having interspecies sex. As for the deep drow, Dolphs do not come into contact with them very much. Deep drow friends are as rare as goldfish teeth.
Alignment and Religion: Settled dolphs and nomadic dolphs worship in the Church of the Walesong, where the dolphs worship the Creator of All Things through song and rhyme and look forward to the promised redeemer. The Church maintains that the songs of the Wales are the history of the Sea and therefore take part by recording the songs and singing them. Also, sex is celebrated during congregational meetings. The meetings that have been observed have been described as communal sex orgies filled with beautiful hymns of song.
Adventurers: Dolphs are as adventurous as the humans and dolphins they came from. Adventurers are a special lot to dolphs, as they are seen as brave souls to go exploring the unsettled regions of the world ocean. Adventuring for some dolphs is seen as a thrill, a way to get high. Others seek knowledge, to increase the Church’s archives of wale songs and to compose songs themselves, arcane knowledge, or to satisfy curiosity. Although riches aren’t really sought after, as the concept of money are alien to the dolphs.
Names: the Dolphs have adopted elven names for their naming traditions.
Dolph Racial Traits:
+2 Dexterity, +2 Intelligence, -2 Wisdom: The dolphs are agile and highly intelligent; a mixture of human and dolphin intelligence. However, they approach the world with a naivety and childlike innocence and having increased curiosity.
Base Land Speed: All dolphs can survive out of water for a time (10 minutes for each Constitution point) and have a base speed of 30 ft.
Hold Breath: A dolph has the cetacean diving reflex, and highly oxygenated blood. Thus they can hold their breath up to 6 times their Constitution score before they risk drowning.
Swim: dolphs have a swim speed of 30 feet and gain the +8 racial bonus on Swim checks that a swim speed normally grants.
Curiosity: dolphs are naturally inquisitive about the world around them. They gain a +4 bonus on Diplomacy checks to gather information, and Knowledge (history) and Knowledge (local) become class skills for them. If they choose a class that has either of these Knowledge skills as class skills, they gain a +2 racial bonus on those skills instead.
Skill Training: Dolphs consider Swim and Perception to be always class skills.
Echolocation (Ex): To simulate Echolocation, dolphs can use the spell locate object at will when underwater up to medium range as a psi-like and not a spell-like, ability.
Languages: Dolphs begin play with Common and Aquan. Dolphs with high intelligence scores can choose any language they want (except secret languages and Pelagic).
DOLPHS IN CERULEAN SEAS:
Originally designed for Tritonis, Dolphs in the Cerulean Seas are dry lander humans that somehow became these hybrids. The biggest change is religion, where most Dolphs worship either Poseidon, Kilona, or Mariblee; with the majority giving their devotion to Mariblee. The dolphs view shargs as enemies.
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Swim (2 RP): Prerequisites: None; Benefit: Members of this race have a swim speed of 30 feet and gain the +8 racial bonus on Swim checks that a swim speed normally grants.
Better change a few things on that skilled.
Exchange skilled to powerful swimmer. Powerful Swimmer (1 RP): Prerequisite: Swim racial
trait; Benefit: Members of this race receive a +10 foot bonus to their swim speed. Special: This trait can be taken twice.